36 China Town

Never had any expectations from this movie. Abbas-Mustan are the directors who have taken full responsibility to remake all the Hollywood movies in to Bollywood. Originality is alien to them. Remember Aitraz (Disclosure), Daraar (sleeping with the enemy), Baadshah (Nick of time)etc.. ?? I gave in to the force of my friends to watch this flick. As expected it's not a brilliant movie. Surprisingly, it succeeded in evoking few good laughs here and there. It is stylish and performance are up to the mark. Johnny Lever and Paresh Rawal are superb!!. Just watch the movie for them (Vote 7/10 is just for them). Finally, I was not able to figure out, from which Hollywood flick, was this inspired..any guesses??

This movie is a typical bollywood film, keep your thinking caps at home and you can enjoy the movie thoroughly. The first half an hour drags on with 3 (!!) songs, but after that the things pick up. In fact all the scenes seem to have been stretched to give the film its running time. Akshaye Khanna makes an entry just after the interval. Now if the film followed the logical rules of life, it should have ended after half an hour from the interval. But all the suspects lie like kindergarten kids and complicate the matter. Even after all this there is hardly any suspense at all. But the ample comedy, good songs and Upen Patel makes up for all this. Upen Patel's performance deserves a mention, he really exudes that cool persona. Rest all are usual. So all in all its a good enough time pass, provided one is not paying the multiplex prices.

The movie was quite good with many twists and turns although it's a comedy thriller and they both don't match. Everyone did a good job in the film and Upen Patel was OK for his first film. I thought it was going to be rubbish but as usual Abbas-Mustan's films are always good. Their films are always copies but they turn out to be better than the original especially Disclosure which was so rubbish that I only seen the first 20 minutes but Aitraaz was brilliant. The best thing is that they're not a complete copy only the basic plot e.g.:

36 China Town- Chinatown (1974)

Aitraaz- Disclosure (1994)

Humraaz- A Perfect Murder (1998)

Ajnabee- Consenting Adults (1992)

Daraar- Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)

Baazigar- A Kiss Before Dying (1991)

Gone are the days of yore when edge on the seat thrillers used to mesmerize you and engulf you in their hunt for the unraveling of true suspense; but encountering a film like '36 China Town' it seems that thrillers have now been reduced to a vestige of RECLINING ON THE SEAT DROOLERS, which have nothing new to roll on the screen .It would be a hyperbole to categorize films like these as thrillers and an insult to the genre, because they stand nowhere near it and every moment they either lull you to sleep or tempt you to make your way to the sign flashing in red above the cinema hall door.

The whole movie stands on a wafer thin plot and is full of frippery. The director duo has taken enough leeway on the part of the public to torture them with their newest offering. Also the films suspense does not thrust like a rapier which was common to their earlier movies like Baazigar, Khiladi etc.The film just trundles along lacking the limpet like feeling a property which most of their earlier films possessed. They seem to have lost their sleight in making suspense films which they were considered masters once. The movie stands in complete shambles due to the fact of this duo not adding the right ingredients to the cauldron of film making. So a feeling of great felicity empowers you when this ordeal comes to an end.

Considering the star cast Shahid and Kareena seem to be too much engrossed in themselves to act well. Also they shriek and shout to ear-splitting decibels at the drop of a hat.Johny Lever and Paresh Rawal fail in their usual antiques of evoking laughter. Debutant Upen Patel seems just like any other model from the fashion world flaunting his six pack abs every now and then. The only saving grace of the film is the performance by Akshaye Khanna enacting the role of a detective with élan. Then we have Priyanka Chopra at the moribund end of the movie just to encourage some whistles form the front rows.

The whole story drags along failing to arouse your alacrity at any instance and the scene where the dead body is found by Shahid and Kareena is total balderdash and the internecine quarrels of putting the blame on each other are totally childish.

All and all the film is a tawdry show and is insipid in nature. The helmsmen have certainly taken the boat the wrong way. This one certainly serves as a punitive for people who have watched this movie and wont draw rewards form the film cognoscenti and certainly wont add good words to the directors repertoire.

Not being one to carry my analytical part to a movie theater, especially for a bollywood movie, i pretty much enjoyed this movie.

The songs, apart from the first and last one, are stuffed in the movie for no reason at all.

Akhshay Khanna is wonderful and so are Paresh Rawal and Johny Lever. Upen Patel is OK.

Direction pretty crisp.

The suspense is built up nicely and the end is shocking.. some said, disappointing, but OK for me as i like the movie overall except for a brief 30 minute period of the start which made me squirm and desire to go home. Glad that i stayed on.